Russian Quizzo/Trivia Round

[edubs31]

Thought some of the folks here might find this interesting...On Wednesday's I host a trivia game (sometimes referred to as 'Pub Quiz' or just 'Quizzo' depending on where you live) at a local bar/restaurant. Since I'm also responsible for coming up with the questions I decided to put together a Russian round for this week's game!

Below are the questions and a list of the scores. No doubt most of you on this forum will find these laughably easy to answer, but I think it interesting to see what type of knowledge there is (or lack thereof in many instances) for this particular topic among the general population. Keep in mind the clientele at this establishment is mostly upper-middle class 20s and 30-somethings (those you might refer to as "young professionals"). It's a pretty healthy split between male and female with a fair share of 50+ year olds as well.

Russian Round Questions

1) Technically the Sochi games are the first ever Olympics hosted by Russia. The Soviet Union however did host the 1980 Summer Games. In what city did it take place?
2) This cultural capital of Russia was renamed Petrograd in 1914 and then Leningrad from 1924 to 1991.
3) This 18th century female ruler led Russia through its “golden age”.
4) Perhaps the greatest of all Russian Tsars this ruler who reigned from 1682 to 1721 was responsible for bringing Russia into the modern age.
5) The Russian revolution that toppled Nicholas II and the Tsarist regime took place in March of what year?
6) Alexei Nicholaevich Romanov, the only son of Tsar Nicholas II, suffered from what debilitating disease? It was nicknamed the “Royal Disease".
7) What infamous Russian mystic & holy man was murdered by members of the royal family in December of 1916?
8 ) The "1812 Overture" from what Russian composer is often ranked as one of the ten greatest classical pieces of all-time.
9) This stunning Russian born female tennis player has won four grand slam singles titles in the past decade.
10) In 2012 three members of what outspoken female punk rock group were each sentenced to two years in prison for "Hooliganism"?

Scores By Team

Team A) 10
Team B) 9
Team C) 9
Team D) 9
Team E) 8
Team F) 7
Team G) 7
Team H) 6
Team I) 6
Team J) 4
Team K) 4
Team L) 4
Team M) 4
Team N) 4

Average Score - 6.5
Questions Ranked Easiest to Hardest - 1, 8, 10, 9, 2, 7, 6, 4, 3, 5

[TimM]

 Technically the Sochi games are the first ever Olympics hosted by Russia. The Soviet Union however did host the 1980 Summer Games. In what city did it take place?

Moscow


This cultural capital of Russia was renamed Petrograd in 1914 and then Leningrad from 1924 to 1991.

St. Petersburg


This 18th century female ruler led Russia through its “golden age”.

Catherine the Great


Perhaps the greatest of all Russian Tsars this ruler who reigned from 1682 to 1721 was responsible for bringing Russia into the modern age.

Peter The Great


The Russian revolution that toppled Nicholas II and the Tsarist regime took place in March of what year?

1917


Alexei Nicholaevich Romanov, the only son of Tsar Nicholas II, suffered from what debilitating disease? It was nicknamed the “Royal Disease".

Hemophilia


What infamous Russian mystic & holy man was murdered by members of the royal family in December of 1916?

Gregory Rasputin


The "1812 Overture" from what Russian composer is often ranked as one of the ten greatest classical pieces of all-time.

 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky      


This stunning Russian born female tennis player has won four grand slam singles titles in the past decade.

Maria Sharapova


In 2012 three members of what outspoken female punk rock group were each sentenced to two years in prison for "Hooliganism"?

Pussy Riot

[edubs31]

That's a TEN for Tim! But of course you're like an expert on the subject.

It's pretty sad that a number of teams could only scrape together four correct answers. But that's the world we live in. If I did a straight up American history round there would surely be some frighteningly low scores as well.

[TimM]

I guess the patrons of that bar do not come here a lot.

[historyfan]

Thought some of the folks here might find this interesting...On Wednesday's I host a trivia game (sometimes referred to as 'Pub Quiz' or just 'Quizzo' depending on where you live) at a local bar/restaurant. Since I'm also responsible for coming up with the questions I decided to put together a Russian round for this week's game!

Below are the questions and a list of the scores. No doubt most of you on this forum will find these laughably easy to answer, but I think it interesting to see what type of knowledge there is (or lack thereof in many instances) for this particular topic among the general population. Keep in mind the clientele at this establishment is mostly upper-middle class 20s and 30-somethings (those you might refer to as "young professionals"). It's a pretty healthy split between male and female with a fair share of 50+ year olds as well.

Russian Round Questions

1) Technically the Sochi games are the first ever Olympics hosted by Russia. The Soviet Union however did host the 1980 Summer Games. In what city did it take place?

Moscow.

2) This cultural capital of Russia was renamed Petrograd in 1914 and then Leningrad from 1924 to 1991.

St Petersburg.

3) This 18th century female ruler led Russia through its “golden age”.

Catherine the Great.

4) Perhaps the greatest of all Russian Tsars this ruler who reigned from 1682 to 1721 was responsible for bringing Russia into the modern age.

Peter the Great.

5) The Russian revolution that toppled Nicholas II and the Tsarist regime took place in March of what year?

1917.

6) Alexei Nicholaevich Romanov, the only son of Tsar Nicholas II, suffered from what debilitating disease? It was nicknamed the “Royal Disease".

Haemophilia.

7) What infamous Russian mystic & holy man was murdered by members of the royal family in December of 1916?

Grigori Efimovich Rasputin.

8 ) The "1812 Overture" from what Russian composer is often ranked as one of the ten greatest classical pieces of all-time.

Tchaikovsky?

9) This stunning Russian born female tennis player has won four grand slam singles titles in the past decade.

Maria Sharapova?

10) In 2012 three members of what outspoken female punk rock group were each sentenced to two years in prison for "Hooliganism"?

Pussy Riot.

I am NOT going to cheat and look at other responses. My answers are below the question, above. How'd I do? ; )

[edubs31]

Aced it there Historyfan. Honestly though if be pretty critical of anyone on this forum who couldn't score at least an right of ten on my Quiz.

It was designed to be reasonably challenging to the general trivia crowd, not the AP crowd.

[Превед]

I knew all the answers except Maria Shaparova. I don't do female tennis players. Gay ones, like Gustaf V, are my limit!

[historyfan]

Aced it there Historyfan. Honestly though if be pretty critical of anyone on this forum who couldn't score at least an right of ten on my Quiz.

It was designed to be reasonably challenging to the general trivia crowd, not the AP crowd.

The composer question almost got me. : )

[edubs31]

Rereading my last post that was supposed to say "an EIGHT out of ten"...damn "smart" phones! :-)

Preved)  Should I quiz you on a "gay athlete" round?

[Greenowl]

I was not sure about Maria Shaparova either....otherwise it was no problem!

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

I got 9 - and as others didn't know the tennis player.  I thought it was Martina Navratolova (sp?)

I think you should do an American quiz about history, geography and music (culture)...  I'd be interested in the results..

Larry

[edubs31]

Funny how the Sharapova question was one of the easier ones for my crew. Most of those who got it wrong wrote down Anna Kournikova instead...they were on the right track with another high profile blonde-haired bombshell. Difference is that Sharapova is also a superb player unlike the now retired Anna.

I've done various rounds involving some type of American history. Last week I did a President's round in honor of the approaching holiday. I don't remember the scores offhand but it wasn't pretty.

Like most bar crowds - and even though Quotations caters to a fairly well educated set of patrons - they do best on the pop culture rounds; Music, movies, TV, celebrities, some sports, etc. History is a struggle but it's usually a round like this one on Russia that decides who wins and loses the game.

[edubs31]

Actually you might all get a kick out of this. These were the most entertaining and/or ridiculous answers I got for each question...

1) Technically the Sochi games are the first ever Olympics hosted by Russia. The Soviet Union however did host the 1980 Summer Games. In what city did it take place?

Prague (Russia eh? Well at least they didn't leave it blank! Prague has never hosted an Olympics either)

2) This cultural capital of Russia was renamed Petrograd in 1914 and then Leningrad from 1924 to 1991.

Moscow (which was the correct answer to #1 which they inexplicably left blank!)

3) This 18th century female ruler led Russia through its “golden age”.

Anastasia (why am I not surprised by the two or three teams who put this?)

4) Perhaps the greatest of all Russian Tsars this ruler who reigned from 1682 to 1721 was responsible for bringing Russia into the modern age.

Alexander the Great (Compliments of my wife/cousin's team who never the less scored a nine on the round. Guess I can't be too hard on them!)

5) The Russian revolution that toppled Nicholas II and the Tsarist regime took place in March of what year?

1743 (Well at least they didn't leave it blank!)

6) Alexei Nicholaevich Romanov, the only son of Tsar Nicholas II, suffered from what debilitating disease? It was nicknamed the “Royal Disease".

Measles (Well, yes, he did suffer from that too at one point!)

7) What infamous Russian mystic & holy man was murdered by members of the royal family in December of 1916?

Jack the Ripper (Could have been worse. At least they were both alive at the same time)

8 ) The "1812 Overture" from what Russian composer is often ranked as one of the ten greatest classical pieces of all-time.

Stravinsky (Not a terrible guess. But funny they'd be smart enough to know who Stravinsky was and yet not know the composure of a piece as iconic as "1812 Overture".)

9) This stunning Russian born female tennis player has won four grand slam singles titles in the past decade.

Anastasia (I've seen video of the Imp playing tennis and just don't think a professional career was ever in the cards!)

10) In 2012 three members of what outspoken female punk rock group were each sentenced to two years in prison for "Hooliganism"?

The Go-Go's (Setting aside for a moment that they're an 80s American group. Did the Go-Go's ever say anything controversial much less get themselves arrested and sentenced for Hooliganism?)

[TimM]

Actually you might all get a kick out of this. These were the most entertaining and/or ridiculous answers I got for each question...

1) Technically the Sochi games are the first ever Olympics hosted by Russia. The Soviet Union however did host the 1980 Summer Games. In what city did it take place?

Prague (Russia eh? Well at least they didn't leave it blank! Prague has never hosted an Olympics either)

2) This cultural capital of Russia was renamed Petrograd in 1914 and then Leningrad from 1924 to 1991.

Moscow (which was the correct answer to #1 which they inexplicably left blank!)

3) This 18th century female ruler led Russia through its “golden age”.

Anastasia (why am I not surprised by the two or three teams who put this?)

4) Perhaps the greatest of all Russian Tsars this ruler who reigned from 1682 to 1721 was responsible for bringing Russia into the modern age.

Alexander the Great (Compliments of my wife/cousin's team who never the less scored a nine on the round. Guess I can't be too hard on them!)

5) The Russian revolution that toppled Nicholas II and the Tsarist regime took place in March of what year?

1743 (Well at least they didn't leave it blank!)

6) Alexei Nicholaevich Romanov, the only son of Tsar Nicholas II, suffered from what debilitating disease? It was nicknamed the “Royal Disease".

Measles (Well, yes, he did suffer from that too at one point!)

7) What infamous Russian mystic & holy man was murdered by members of the royal family in December of 1916?

Jack the Ripper (Could have been worse. At least they were both alive at the same time)

8 ) The "1812 Overture" from what Russian composer is often ranked as one of the ten greatest classical pieces of all-time.

Stravinsky (Not a terrible guess. But funny they'd be smart enough to know who Stravinsky was and yet not know the composure of a piece as iconic as "1812 Overture".)

9) This stunning Russian born female tennis player has won four grand slam singles titles in the past decade.

Anastasia (I've seen video of the Imp playing tennis and just don't think a professional career was ever in the cards!)

10) In 2012 three members of what outspoken female punk rock group were each sentenced to two years in prison for "Hooliganism"?

The Go-Go's (Setting aside for a moment that they're an 80s American group. Did the Go-Go's ever say anything controversial much less get themselves arrested and sentenced for Hooliganism?)

Oh.......my..........God!

Jack the Ripper!?  Alexander The Great!?  Prague!? 

Wrong nationality, wrong nationality and century, wrong country!  Sounds like answers Sarah Palin and/or Michelle Bachmann would give.

At least those that picked Anastasia got the nationality right, if nothing else.

[Превед]

Preved)  Should I quiz you on a "gay athlete" round?

Only gay royal athletes. I'm the current title-holder, but I guess it only counts as esoterica.